New Spanish language program coming to North, South middle schools

Mike Lawrence/The Gleaner
Lisa Horn, wearing a traditional dress from Chihuahua Mexico where her mother is from, will be teaching the new Spanish language classes to be offered at both North and South Middle Schools in Henderson County.
07-25-2013$RETURN$$RETURN$

Mike Lawrence/The Gleaner
Lisa Horn, wearing a traditional dress from Chihuahua Mexico where her mother is from, will be teaching the new Spanish language classes to be offered at both North and South Middle Schools in Henderson County.
07-25-2013

For those who don't speak Spanish, the above translates into: Spanish will now be offered as an elective for the middle school students in Henderson County school district.

The new foreign language program is set to launch as the 2013-14 school year begins on Aug. 7.

Adding a foreign language program at the middle schools is something that North Principal Chad Thompson and South Principal Ryan Reusch have been mulling over for two years.

"We want to provide quality foreign language instruction for our students because in today's global society and with the vision of this (school) district, we are trying to prepare students for a quality global education to be successful," Thompson said.

Foreign language and culture components are part of the new state standards, Reusch explained, so naturally they wanted to find a good fit for North and South students. There was a sense of urgency in creating a program, too, since Evansville and Owensboro middle schools have offered several foreign languages for years.

"We felt we were behind on that," he said.

North had previously held about 800 licenses with Rosetta Stone, the computer program that helps people learn a language at their own pace.

However, that contract expired and was going to cost substantially more to renew and obtain licenses for South as well. Instead of renewing the contract, the principals received the board of education's approval to begin a Spanish language program with a qualified full-time instructor.

Lisa Horn will teach Spanish classes at North and South — dividing her day by teaching three classes each to the different grade levels at both schools.

Most recently serving as principal at Central Academy, Horn holds a bachelor's degree in Spanish.

Her mother was born in Mexico, moving to the United States in 1957 after marrying Horn's father. Aside from a few words, Horn didn't learn Spanish until she was older since only English was spoken when she was growing up.

"I knew something was different because we had tortillas with turkey, but I didn't know I was culturally different because that's just the way it was," she said.

Horn first taught Spanish at an Illinois middle school. It was a similar to the one North and South are launching for the new school year.

Each level of the Spanish language program is an elective.

Sixth-graders can complete a nine-week course that whets their appetite for the language. Horn teaches them expressions like, ‘May I go to the bathroom?' and about cultural experiences.

"I want to get them hooked, because if you can get them hooked at sixth grade then they are going to want to learn more about it and they'll be more willing to participate in the harder things," she said.

Since the class only lasts nine weeks, Horn figures she will be able to see most of the sixth-graders.

Seventh-grade students are enrolled for a semester-long course that focuses more on the language component in addition to culture.

Eighth-graders take a yearlong class that is the equivalent of Spanish 1 offered at Henderson County High School.

"It will be the same pace for eighth-graders as it will be at the high school," said Horn, who has been working with HCHS Spanish teachers to make sure everyone has the same curriculum.

Eighth-grade students will earn Spanish 1 credit and move right into Spanish 2 for their freshman year. Earning the credit a year earlier will also benefit students who want to enroll in AP Spanish, since it takes a certain amount of credits to do so.

Having AP courses is important to ensure students succeed at the university level, Thompson said.

As of mid-July, the Spanish classes were about 80 percent scheduled, Reusch said. It was harder to fill the eighth-grade classes since their schedules had been made in advance of committing to the program for the 2013-14 school year.

New common core classes are typically not full the first year as students wait to see what happens before they buy in fully, Horn said.

Horn incorporates games in her classroom to help students learn. It wouldn't be unusual to hear her say, "Tocar la pared," and see students touching the wall or to hear her say "Tocar su nariz" and see the kids touching their noses.

The students learn and laugh at their own mistakes if they mix up the wall and their noses. It's an experience that learning from a computer-based program like Rosetta Stone can't replicate.

"The computer just says repeat again if you say it wrong," she said. "It doesn't say this is how you say it. This is how you move your tongue."

The Rosetta Stone also doesn't teach things like proximity. In Latin culture, Horn explained, personal space is about 6 inches, while in the U.S. it's more the equivalent of an arm's length.

Introducing the students to Spanish culture is just as important as them learning the language.

When she taught Spanish in Illinois, Horn tapped employees and owners of Mexican restaurants to come into her classroom and teach the kids how to make traditional Mexican meals. It's a lesson she plans to duplicate for her North and South students.

"It was twofold, not only did my students learn the culture, but it also brought the community more together," Horn said.

Theme days will be held throughout the school year so students can soak in Spanish culture. Horn said she plans to don her Cinco de Mayo dress to get in the spirit of Mexico's national holiday, which commemorates the country's 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War.

One of the downfalls of offering just Spanish to middle school students is they usually don't want to pursue a different language at the high school level, Horn said.

Following a presentation about the Spanish language program to the Henderson County Board of Education earlier this month, Superintendent Thomas Richey said he would like to eventually see the middle schools offer additional foreign language classes.

In countries where English is not the first language, it's often mandatory for children to learn it from an early age. Horn was in Shanghai last year and found it far more Westernized than she imagined.

"I was in a city of 22 million people and they all knew more about English than I knew about Chinese," she said. "They knew how to speak English."

Small children pick up on language quickly, so it's the educators' vision one day to introduce regular foreign language classes at the elementary level and perhaps even preschool.